I. Field
The following description relates generally to wireless communications, and, amongst other things, to the selection of access points in wireless communication systems.
II. Background
Wireless networking systems have become a prevalent means by which a majority of people worldwide has come to communicate. Wireless communication devices have become smaller and more powerful in order to meet consumer needs and to improve portability and convenience. Consumers have found many uses for wireless communication devices such as cellular telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and the like, demanding reliable service and expanded areas of coverage.
A typical wireless communication network (e.g., employing frequency, time, and code division techniques) includes one or more access points that provide a coverage area and one or more mobile (e.g., wireless) user devices that can transmit and receive data within the coverage area. A typical access point can simultaneously transmit multiple data streams for broadcast, multicast, and/or unicast services, wherein a data stream is a stream of data that can be of independent reception interest to a user device. A user device within the coverage area of that access point can be interested in receiving one, more than one or all the data streams carried by the composite stream. Likewise, a user device can transmit data to the access point or another user device. Such communication between an access point and user device or between user devices can be degraded due to channel variations and/or interference power variations. For example, the aforementioned variations can affect access point scheduling, power control and/or rate prediction for one or more user devices.
Prior to communicating, a user device can be assigned to a particular access point. In general, a user device should be assigned to the access point from which the user device will receive the strongest signal. In addition, the method for assigning mobile devices to access points should not generate excessive overhead or disrupt system performance.